Page 125 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

United did not have a solution, they didn’t even take a corner all game. Barcelona
continued in the same fashion and it was in that vein that Messi received a pass in midfield,

unmarked, turned round and fired home a shot that made it 2-1 for Barcelona.
Messi’s performance illustrates the difficulties that rivals have when they face Barcelona.
Even though Ferguson admitted that they never controlled Messi, he ended up making
ninety-seven runs, but 85 per cent of his moves were ‘low-intensity’. His choosing of his runs
was game-changing.

Barcelona were so accomplished at the basics, knowing their system and personnel so
well, that Guardiola could respond to anything United threw at them. Their attack involved
constant positional permutations between the front five, with the full backs often involved as

well. A neverending display of ball and player circulation.
The United wingers started joining in, in midfield, making the centre of the park quite
congested, so Barcelona started attacking down the more open flanks; especially down the
right with Alvés.
The game was under Barcelona control when Villa scored Barcelona’s third goal after

seventy minutes. One minute earlier, Nani had replaced Fabio, injured, and on seventy-six
minutes Scholes replaced Carrick. Now trailing by two goals, United went fully on the
attack, Barcelona relaxed a bit and the game took a dangerous turn for Barcelona. Pep

reacted by taking off a winger and bringing on Keita to regain control – and it stayed that
way until the end of the match.
Essentially, Barcelona looked far more like the Barcelona side we will remember than
they did in 2009. The attacking wide players (Pedro and Villa) were more involved than
Henry and Eto’o (who were in reality strikers) were two years earlier. Busquets saw more

of the ball despite the efforts of Rooney, and enjoyed relative freedom when Xavi and
Messi dropped deeper. Barcelona were superior.

The final word: The lifting of the cup, the managers

Somewhat surprisingly, Carles Puyol was left out of Guardiola’s line-up at the very last

minute. Once the game was resolved, the coach introduced him for the final moments so
that he could participate in the final and receive the trophy. But the Barcelona captain
insisted that Abidal lift the silverware. ‘This trophy is yours; go and get it!’ Puyi told his
team-mate. The French left back felt his ‘second family’ had given him his life back.
Although he did not know it yet, his illness was to return with even more serious

repercussions; but that day the recuperating star had done more to inspire his team-mates
with his determination and resilience on the road to recovery than, perhaps, he ever
realised at the time.

Ferguson, despite his competitive nature and instinctive desire to defend his own team,
admitted that night to his closest assistants that it was impossible to compete with their
current European nemesis. He could not but admire the fact that they had achieved such
high standards with such an extraordinary contribution from the club’s academy set-up
(seven of them in the line-up), the ultimate ideal in football. Rio Ferdinand and Wayne

Rooney were in agreement with their manager.